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Grocery Shopping: 4 Steps to Victory for Guys Trying to Survive

Hey, men.  (Or ladies trying to survive and reading this.)  Ask yourself:  Why bother with grocery shopping when it’s easy and quick to pick something up from a drive-thru? You can do that.  You can eat out or bring in each night.  But lo, there are two problems: 1.  It breaks your wallet. 2.  You […]

grocery shopping
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5 Out-Genre Movies Exemplifying Story for Science Fantasy Fans

A fantasy and/or science fiction fan doesn’t have to be bound to watching movies only in the fantasy and science fiction realm.  Outside the genre are excellent examples of what story can do.  Stretch your horizons and take in these five movies exemplifying story. Doctor Zhivago – Epic Scale Most fantasy and science fiction films […]

movies exemplifying story
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Dona and Drew’s 6 Dating Rules

Before I leave dating lessons learned from Dona, I’ll give a few dating rules:  Three lighthearted rules from Dona and three heavy rules from me.  Scoff if you want, but they worked toward our relationship. Dona’s Dating Rule #1:  Never Date a Guy Who Owns a Van A van could mean… If you can’t figure […]

dating rules
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Fantasy Worlds in a Real Universe

A fantasy or science fiction author chucks out one or more real physical laws in order to construct an imaginative world where magic and dragons coexist, where starships can exceed the speed of light, where heroes still look good even with blue skin.  But there’s danger in straying too far from this real universe where […]

real universe
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Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas: A Simple Meal for Guys Trying to Survive

Time for another ‘Guys Trying to Survive.’  You’ve cleaned the refrig and made a pie.  Give yourself a hand.  Now, let’s make a quick and simple meal:  Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas.  My kids pump their fists and say “Yes!” when they find out these are for dinner.  Good reviews are hard to come by, so […]

sour cream chicken enchiladas
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The Essence of Me: What It Means to Be a Person

When I think about what makes an engaging character in a book, I begin to think on what it means to be a person.  What is ‘me’? In writing science fantasy, I’m not interested in simply ‘human’.  Human is a species.  I want to know what it means to be a person no matter the […]

person
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Is the Justice League Committed to Democracy or Is It an Oligarchy?

I’d like to give you another short thinker-blog. Have you ever wondered if the Justice League, such a stalwart defender of America, is really committed to the ideals of democracy?  Since they have superpowers, doesn’t that set them above the populace? Having such powers allows them to stand up against and above an elected government.  This […]

justice league
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3 Restaurants, 3 Dates, 3 Lessons Learned with Dona

I started this particular blog series about lessons learned from Dona, but several lessons we learned together.  What follows are three that stayed with us throughout our time together.  These lessons came early in our relationship, from dates during the cool 80’s.  As time progressed, we tagged these lessons by the three restaurants we had […]

dates
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5 Cultural Cautions from the World of Panem in The Hunger Games

Let’s look into the intriguing world of Panem from The Hunger Games Trilogy.  No spoilers though!  You need to find out some things yourself.  That’s the fun of reading!  Those moments of “No way!” or “Yikes!” or “Ah Pa, that makes me cry.” Through the three books, the world of Panem unfolds solely through the […]

panem
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Romance in Fantasy and Science Fiction

Face it:  As genres go, fantasy and science fiction do not lend themselves well to romance. Now before you protest by citing examples of book covers, let me say that romance is more than a buxom vixen next to a muscle man riding a dragon.  That’s not romance; that’s just sex. Sex is not romance.  […]

romance
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